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WATCH: drone images of the new San Francisco Transit Center.
By Paul Elias | Associated Press
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) – The San Francisco authorities on Tuesday closed the new $ 2.2 billion transit terminal after discovering a crack in a support beam beneath the central park.
The Salesforce Sales Center, inaugurated in August near the heart of the downtown core after nearly a decade of construction, has earned the title of "Grand Central of the West". It was expected to accommodate 100,000 passengers every day of the week and up to 45 million people a year.
Authorities in the green jackets immediately moved people from the building Tuesday afternoon and diverted the buses to a temporary area about two blocks away that had been used during the construction of the center.
Wrapped in a wavy white metal veil, the five-level center includes a bus bridge, a sky-lit central entrance hall and a rooftop park with an open air amphitheater.
Authorities said on Tuesday that the transit center will remain closed while engineers assess the damage and inspect the other beams.
The terminal is managed by the Transbay Joints Power Authority. Executive Director Mark Zabaneh said that no other damage is suspected.
The San Francisco Chronicle said the complex had to deal with delays in issuing contracts and that the winning bids were eventually higher than expected. The cost of the terminal has gone from $ 1.6 billion at its inauguration in 2010 to over $ 2 billion in 2016 due to what one analyst called "optimistic assumptions," according to the Chronicle.
The project, a dominant presence in the South of Market district, is funded by land sales, federal grants, district fees and taxes, bridge tolls and federal and state funds.
Salesforce Online Business Software, which opened its adjacent 61-story Salesforce Tower three months ago, purchased the center's naming rights in 2017 as part of a $ 110 million sponsorship deal over 25 years.
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